Kaede
Kaede is the main character, protagonist and anti-heroine/anti-villainess of the Elfen Lied series. The so-called 'Queen' Diclonius, Kaede (also known as Lucy and Nyu) was both ruthlessly tormented and at times was herself a sadistic tormentor, driven by both the cruelty she found so often in life, but also by the knowledge that love and acceptance was possible. Her great love was Kouta, a boy she met when they were children and again when they were young adults. Elfen Lied is, at its core, defined by her love for and relationship with Kouta, marked by some joy but also by deepest tragedy. As a Diclonius, Kaede possessed power rivaled by few others of her kind, and control over her vectors, mostly invisible telekinetic 'arms', virtually second to none. She was also capable of spreading the Diclonius mutation to the children born to people she infected, with the idea of replacing normal humans with her kind. In the upcoming fanfics featuring Sho Yuuki she will be Sho's main love interest Birth Kaede's mother was a human capable of giving birth to fully-powered and reproductive-capable Diclonii (as opposed to the sterile Silpelit children), and was apparently the true origin of the virus that spawned them. Captured by Chief Kakuzawa, Kaede's mother was held, studied and forced to bear a son by him, committing suicide after this. Kaede knew nothing of this, believing both parents had abandoned her. In fact, only her father had, while her mother never stopped searching for her, prior to her capture by Kakuzawa. It remains unclear if Chief Kakuzawa knew of Kaede's existence before Kurama and his own son Yu did, so the timeframe of the conception and birth of Kaede's half-brother is also uncertain. She was taken in by an orphanage, where she was avoided by the staff, commonly bullied and referred to as an "Oxen" (due to her horns) and told by the other children that she should live outside. In an odd way, Kaede understood this as the other children being miserable and needing to make others miserable as well. Awakening Kaede found an abandoned puppy in the woods around the orphanage, whom she thought of as her first friend. Feeding the puppy on breadcrumbs left the pup starving, so she felt forced to give most of her dinner to it. During this time, it was later revealed that young Kaede while holding her pup sometimes listened to the singing of young Nozomi, who fled to those same mountains to hide her singing from her family. The two never truly met at this time. When a boy named Tomoo threw milk all over her bag, a young girl saw, and shouted for a teacher. Thinking of her as a new friend, Kaede told the girl about the puppy. However, although promising to keep it a secret, the girl told the boys about Kaede's relationship with the puppy, and the bullies took it from the woods. Grabbing hold of Kaede, the boys brought in the puppy and began killing it by repeatedly smashing a hard object on it (a rock in the manga, a vase in the anime). The girl came in, admitting to telling them about the puppy. Despite her apologies and protests that she hadn't known the puppy would be hurt, Kaede spotted her smiling behind her supposedly covered eyes. Feeling betrayed and enraged, she released her vectors for the first time, killing all of her tormentors. She then buried the dog, apologizing for not being able to protect it, and decided to go on the run. During the nights, Kaede went with her Diclonius instincts and slaughtered entire families to stay in their houses. The murders became more and more publicized and she found it harder to stay at a house for very long. At odd moments, the horror of what she was doing would strike her, but her pain and need reasserted itself in short order. Personality Kaede suffers from Multiple personality disorder, having at least two different personalities. This disorder began in her childhood. Kaede Personality Her original personality (Kaede) was that of a depressed, distrustful, withdrawn and frustrated kid. She wa s discriminated against by others, because of her horns. Thinking that she was abandoned by her parents, she was also avoided and judged by staff of the orphanage, bullied and treated contemptuously by other children, all this because of her horns. She didn't understand why such discrimination happened, and so she also suffered from self-hatred from having horns. To some extent she understood that the other kids were miserable and needed to make others miserable too, targeting especially those already more miserable than they. When gaining intimacy with someone as Kouta and Aiko, she is shown to be sweet, kind and shy. Lucy Personality After witnessing her dog's murder at the hands of the orphanage bullies, she began to develop a deep hatred of Humans, killing whole families just to use their house, without regret or guilt. Shortly after that, she began to hear a voice in her head, supposedly the voice of her DNA. The voice of her Diclonius instincts had the mental image of herself, with the only difference having a cold and sadistic expression. The voice told her that she couldn't coexist in a world with Humans, and then said: "Join me. Then I will make to you a place to live in.". From that point on Kaede began to listen to her instincts, killing some Humans by way of inducing heart attacks, and spreading her genes to Male Humans, who would have Diclonius children who would in turn kill and infect more. Her Diclonii instincts began to overpower her, leading her to develop a sadistic, sociopathic and blood thirsty personality. This personality is often designated as Lucy, a name given to her in the Diclonius Research Institute, and never used by her or anyone who befriended her. While unclear, it's possible that the Lucy Personality is in fact a combination of the Kaede Personality and the DNA Voice Personality, since she apparently had traits of both. Nyu Personality During her escape from the Diclonius Research Institute, a sniper shot a bullet from a .50 caliber rifle on Lucy's helmet, that was partially slowed by the helmet she wore and her vectors, causing her to fall off a cliffside into the sea. Lucy's personality fell unconscious and by the next morning Kaede woke up on the beach at Kam akura without any memories and with a childlike and infantile personality. The only sound she knew was Nyu, which was how Kouta and Yuka decided to name her. Despite the ignorance of Nyu, she had a basic sense of good and evil, much like a young child. She was a kind, sweet, innocent and naive girl, with an intense sexual curiosity that often made life awkward for her housemates. As the time passed in the Kaede House, Nyu slowly began to learn the basic morals and norms of society. When she lost her horns in the battle with Mariko, Nyu's persona predominated, and remained for just over half a year. During this time Nyu matured greatly, learning how to speak properly and in complete sentences, how to cook, clean, and show at least some restraint on her sexual curiosity. A variant on this personality emerged when Kaede House was attacked, as Nyu was finally able to use vectors like Lucy, was brutal towards her attackers, but still deeply caring of her house mates, especially Kouta. It could be said that the personality she finished the series with was a variable-percentage merger between Lucy and Nyu, as elements of both surfaced. For example, when facing Chief Kakuzawa for the last time, her nudity became an issue for her, covering what she could from his view. This is in marked contrast to the uncaring attitude the pure Lucy persona had about such matters, likely stemming from contempt for Humans as lower creatures, and also to the child-like free spirit Nyu mostly was, happily climbing in the bath with and groping to excess any friend who had her attention. Upon her death, these two personalities each seemed to have their own spirit, both of which loved Kouta and her friends. DNA Voice It cannot be confirmed from evidence in the series whether or not this personality, supposedly the voice of Lucy's Diclonius DNA, really existed or was merely the embodiment of Kaede's intense alienation and pain. Kaede first truly heard it after her rage and grief over the killing of her puppy at the orphanage, and heard it even more as she feared Kouta had betrayed her. It was a compelling voice that Kaede often gave into, yet she stated that it never actually controlled her, and merely guided her. Nana seemed to hear this voice on at least two occasions on which she felt she had no place in the world, and Mariko clone Barbara said that she heard a voice urging her to kill all Humans. Yet both Nana and Barbara suffered cruelly at the Institute, and the validity of these instances is in question. The idea that it may have been more of a split personality than an actual echo of Diclonius DNA is given strength by the fact that it finally did briefly take over Kaede's body as it was close to death. Kouta for his part dismissed this voice as a variant on something all people have to struggle with, but best evidence also contains no information from the anime or manga that dismisses this possibility either, leaving it an open question and one of the series' greatest unresolved mysteries. The personality of Kaede/Lucy/Nyu's DNA Voice was that of a cold, sadistic, hate-twisted, manipulative, compulsive/obsessive and truly psychopathic killer without guilt or remorse. She had a strong wish to destroy all of Humanity and replace it with Diclonii, in which she would possibly rule the world, since she is in essence a Queen Diclonius. She also had no qualms in trying to convince Kaede/Lucy/Nyu that all Humans were vile creatures that truly needed to die, and was even willing to kill Kouta and Co. at any cost, regardless of their compassion towards her. Near the end of the manga series when she manages to gain full control of her then mortally wounded body however, and Kouta is urged by Kaede and Nyu to shoot and kill her with a near-by gun, he backs down at the last moment, unwilling to kill his long-time friend no matter how much she wronged him in the past, even though Kaede's and Nyu's illusions are now fading away, unable to protect him anymore, and the DNA Voice is now in full control. Despite this sudden freedom to finally kill him and his friends/family as she pleases, the DNA Voice, seemingly shocked/surprised and perhaps even moved by Kouta's love for her, instead ceases all attacks, only to use a single vector to pick up the gun for Kouta to shoot her, which he finally does, thus putting her out of misery. This suggest that despite all the horrible deeds she committed in the series, whether directly or indirectly, she was still capable of compassion, even if just a tiny ''bit. It is also possible that, having never been in control and therefore fully 'alive' before, this persona had no tolerance for physical pain, let alone the intense agony Kaede's body must have undergone as it melted. It's unknown if she was ever reborn at the end of the manga series. The voice only appears in Kaede's mind in the form of a naked Kaede with bandages covering her face save for one of her eyes. Realtionship "I always believed i would never love anyone like i loved Kouta...but then i found you." -Kaede to Sho when they finally confessed their love for each other- Sho Yuuki : Sho is Kaede's second love interest, during her days of captivity she befriended a fellow prisoner and the two kept each other company during their hell, but one day Kaede's friend vanished and this upsetted her greatly as she decided to escape and vowed to kill him for his betrayal. Eventually things changed for her as she met her first love Kouta and developed her spilt personalities. Eventually she was reunited with Sho and her first response was to kill him, but as time pass she got over his "betrayal" and loved him ultimately Sho fought hard to make her see him as more then a friend it worked and now the two and become lovers and married and not even death could tear them apart from each other. "We have so much in common." -Kaede to Platinum the Trinity. Platinum the Trinity: When Sho returned home with Platinum the Trinity a girl he had adopted during his travels Kaede had mixed feelings about it litterly. Nyuu not knowing better grew closed to Luna and Sena and was more of a sister to them then mom. but as Lucy she started off mean abusive and disrespectful. but eventually learning more about her adopted child she grew to love them. "Whenever you're ready to live up to your name Sho and i will come for you ''my ''Daughter." -Kaede(Lucy) to Chaos when at the end of their first encounter- Chaos Yuuki : Kaede is unsure what to feel towards Chaos due to her being Sho's daughter she wants to love her, but because she is Hana's daughter she wants to hate her. Ultimately Kaede has decided that Chaos belongs with Sho and is working on taking her away from Hana. Lucy has never once tried or attempted to kill Chaos in matter of fact she's killed for Chaos and is eager to make sure Sho's daughter lives up to her name. Nyu loves Chaos almost as much as Hana loves her and is constantly looking forward to see her and play with her. Nyu has yet to grope Chaos or kiss her like she does to others. "Hana huh? like a flower i can easily crush you if i wish." -Kaede(Lucy)'s first words to Hana upon meeting her- Hana Narumi : Hana and Kaede's relationship mainly strongly depends on who's in control, With Lucy in control its strictly a hate relationship Lucy can not stand Hana because she believes and see her as a thief trying to take Sho away from her and to Lucy Sho's not just her love but her chain to humanity something she believes Hana will never understand. Nyuu however likes Hana alot and finds it fun to be around her do to her nature however she will grope Hana sometimes and even make out with her using tounge. But Nyu feels like sometimes Hana dislikes her. "Kamen Rider huh? well when the time comes for me to kill humanity...i'll start with you." -Lucy to Takeshi when he saved her(Nyu) as SEGA- Takeshi Narumi : Kaede has no real realtionship with Takeshi, Nyu seems to like Takeshi alot and considers him fun, but sometimes seeing him and Luna being intimate makes her want to try this with them or Sho whoever is around at the moment but she seems to respect Takeshi alot. Lucy however hates Takeshi and believes him to be an idiot, she has even told him humanity is not worth the trouble and should be abandoned. Luna Hashimoto : Luna and Kaede's Nyu personality seem to get along pretty well but sometimes Luna dislike how Nyu likes to grope her and has try to kiss her when she see her and Takeshi doing it. Lucy however seems to not care at all for Luna and has try to kill her without hestiating mainly cause she thinks Luna is in her way at the moment. "If you truly wish to help your kind kill everyone who crosses you and make more us as possible, That Hikari is our destiny." -Kaede(Lucy) to Hikari after their first meeting- Hikari Fukui: Kaede and Hikari met when Hikari sensed Lucy and sought her out. Lucy not knowing or caring if she was friend or foe she attacked Hikari at first but when Hikari pleaded for mercy Lucy heard her out and learned about Hikari after their conversation Lucy told Hikari to kill her parents and anyone else and help her make a world for their kind. Trivia *Kaede no matter the story will fall in the very ''very thin line between Heroine or Villainess. Category:Official Characters Category:Elfen Lied Category:Characters Category:Diclonii Category:Villains